UC Irvine released findings from a study that investigated the effects of email in the workplace:
People who read email changed screens twice as often and were in a steady “high alert” state, with more constant heart rates. Those removed from email for five days experienced more natural, variable heart rates.
I hate email. HATE. I agree with Shawn Blanc’s take:
My personal theory on this is that the mental stress of “always being reachable” or “always anticipating the incoming” hinders your mind from being able to settle into a focused state of concentration.
I recently turned off notifications on my phone in favor of checking everything manually. My focus improved and my stress level decreased. As Blanc mentions, I no longer anticipated the buzz of my phone or felt phantom vibrations in the form of muscle fasciculations.
However, I haven’t done this on my work machine. I find that I am increasingly pissed with every ding of a new email. I think given the success of my phone techniques and the findings of this study, I am going to turn off push email at work in favor of manual fetching.